Saturday, January 22, 2011

Singapore/Malaysia Day 14: Part 1: Singapore Zoo

December 4, 2010Singapore Day 14: Part 1: Singapore Zoo

This morning I slept in a little and made my way over to "Tom Hanks" (aka "Hanis Bakery") because the hotel only serves breakfast on weekdays. It was raining while we were at the bakery and Matt and Jess and I pondered changing plans and staying inside if the rain didn't stop. I had a Kaya toast set and Teh Tarik. It came with a half-cooked egg that you dipped the bread into. Soon after we finished breakfast, the rain stopped and we took off to the Ang Mo Kio subway stop. We got off the subway there and got onto the bus going to the Zoo.

The Zoo was fantastic. We had a great time, and were greeted near the start of our walk by some really loud Gibbon monkeys, who were weird and hilarious. The white tigers were awesome!!! There were lots of cool Australian animals including my two favourites, the Emu and the Cassowary. We also saw LOTS of cool jungle cats.

The dining area there was beautifully set up under a covered area and we stopped for lunch just as it started POURING outside. We had a great lunch... or so I thought 'till later. :) Heh. So apparently Canadians are not built for 35 C weather with ultra-humidity and rich curry lunches. I must have had too little water or something, because I was starting to lose it. A couple hours after lunch I was really starting to feel like crap and I went to a vendor and bought a huge water and drank the whole thing. That helped for about 10 minutes. The curry was just not quite sitting right. Uh oh :) Let me put it this way: I can now safely buy the t-shirt that says, "I hurled at the kid's water park in the Singapore Zoo!" Haha, wow. This is funny in hindsight, but at the time I was like "get outta the way!!!" running by kids having a fun time, merrily splashing their way around the various water pools and attractions, haulin' it, aiming directly for the single-door wheelchair bathroom. Gross. Anyway not to get too graphic, just note that you should never, ever, ever, under any circumstances, eat the curry at the Singapore Zoo and then walk around without a hat on for 4 hours. It will near-destroy you.

After that "experience" we sat in the KFC (I know, brutal!) as it was super hardcore air conditioned and I drank another water there, and sweated in pain for a while while smelling the horrible aroma of fried chicken. Blergh. But the A/C was a life-saving beast of awesome, so it was a great idea. I think I ordered a 7-Up. This moment in time was definitely a hazy blur of post-hurling heat exhaustion. Jess and Matt looked worried. The rest of the park was kinda cool but I was pretty friggin' DONE so we made our way back to the exit, and Jess redeemed her "Dr. Fish" fish spa certificate (which was hilarious and so weird!!) as we waited for the bus back to the subway. The bus took 20 min to show up and I was really feeling bad at that point and really wanted to get back but it showed up eventually. We got on the bus and it was about 40 min back to the Subway. I passed out for the whole time and didn't say a word. Matt said later that he thought something was wrong and realized I wasn't talking... so I must have felt really terrible!! Rough. Anyhoo we got onto the Subway and I was still in a blur. I pretty much fell asleep on the subway on the way back too, just so keen to get back to bed. We got back to the hotel and I bought some water and Gatorade on the way back.

I was SO happy to get back to my room and just turned off the lights, had some more water, and slept for several hours. I have never been happier to see my comfortable bed!! Matt and Jess were so nice and were super worried about me, and I hope I didn't ruin the rest of their time at the Zoo. I think they were ready to roll by the time I was hurlin' like a champ.

Oy gevault. Anyhoo, best afternoon sleep ever. That was beautiful.

Start off the day right, with some Kaya Toast

Funny Cotton-top Tamarin

Posing for a photo at the Zoo entrance

This dude is called a "False Ghavial"?!

Sweet jungley flowers

So South African-y!!!!!!

More interesting flowers

Whooaaa

Nice

Jess and Matt

Look, a white flower in the forest

Look, a white TIGER in the forest!!!!! Actually, this was just a cutout image of a tiger, but was very convincing :)

Weird birds

Cool spider plant

More cool flowers

"Gangsta"

Lawn ornaments, or real birds? You decide.

Gibbon monkey who was SUPER LOUD

Funny looking fish

Kookaburra sits in an old gum tree

Jess and Matt at lunch, just as it started to pour

Sure, this lunch looks tasty now. But it took me down about 5 notches after all of the heat. :)

I think this is a durian?!?

Not sure what this guy is, but he was cool

White tiger!!!!!!!!!

On the move

In his natural habitat...

Bathing time

This was so awesome

Haha, this lizard guy was funny

Hippo feeding

Open wide

Warthogs

Cool little walkway

Haha Emu!!!!!

Awesome

Some Wallabys

Ahh a Cassowary!!!

Another cool animal

Hilarious signs at the Zoo

Tree

More cool birds

Tired Cheetah

Cute

Zebra

Uh... "Sponsored by KFC"?! At least it wasn't a chicken exhibit...

Meerkat

Jaguar, this exhibit was sponsored by Jaguar Motors which was hilarious

4 comments:

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